It's Friday. Your checklist has gotten a little longer every day this week, each new day inheriting the last couple things you couldn't quite get done the day before. At this point, you probably have several things that have to happen that didn't even make it on the checklist; adding it would just be too depressing. How on earth are we supposed to get everything done today?

Even if you have "All day to get things done," there's no real guarantee you can get to everything.

For some of us, getting enough done on Friday is our only hope for getting a day or two off during the weekend...and yet the backlog of email, followup calls, and multi-layered tasks can have us feeling like there's absolutely no chance we can really "win," if winning means getting it all done.

I was actually pretty nervous about my Friday this week - a big question mark hovering over my head as I wonder if I can get it all done. And then I realized...It isn't about getting EVERYTHING done. It's about getting the RIGHT THINGS done!

Get The Right Things Done

So do you know what the right things are for today? What's most Valuable? What is most Urgent? and What will Move You Forward toward your goals? Even spending 5 minutes with a legal pad, white board, or sticky note clarifying what the RIGHT things are for today can resuscitate your Friday, and restore hope that you can WIN TODAY!

Don't Start With:

• The Latest Thing: Sometimes, if you start with the task you feel the guiltiest about being undone, it can paint your whole day in light of "being behind." If you start with the latest thing every day, it can create a vicious cycle of the new things not getting done and then becoming the late thing you deal with in 3 days.
• Mindless Busywork: If you start with tasks that don't take much mental energy, it will get your brain into a blah zone and drag down your performance in general. (This is why some experts say we shouldn't check our email first thing when we get working.)
• An Unplanned Project: Sometimes if a big project or multi-layer task is important we jump in before making an Action Plan. It's big and important, and we'll "feel better" if we "make some progress." Unfortunately, this is a lie. If the steps aren't clarified, the progress we make doesn't comfort our minds - we know that we don't know what it's going to take to be finished! Plan it first!

Consider Starting Here:

• Clear-Cut Action Steps: If you know exactly What and How to do a simple task, it can usually be completed quickly and efficiently. It gives you a "win" that increases your energy as you jump into the next task.
• Something You're Inspired About: Sometimes it's when something ISN'T urgent that we get the clearest picture of how to do it quickly. If you're jazzed to do something, and it has high value for that day, doing it first can get you off to a running start!
• That ONE THING: If you can say "if the only thing I get today is ________, it will have been a valuable work day" - starting with that One Thing can seal the deal on having a winning day right out of the gate! Everything you get done after that one thing is icing on the cake, and puts you in a better place for tomorrow!

Eventually, You Can Get It All Done

The good news is, if you consistently prioritize and get the right things done on a daily basis, the ever-growing rollover of tasks slowly evaporates. It helps you stop playing catch-up - you're right where you need to be, getting the right thing done.

Learn more about getting things done under stress in my article, Thriving in the Squeeze.